It is the way with a new mother. She is unsure, over protective, over reactive and not sensible sometimes. We are expecting snow tonight, not a major snow storm and with fairly mild temperatures, if you can call -11 mild. I put the cria, the new baby llama, now named Jeanette, in a pen with a good shelter with her mother, who promptly jumped the fence out into the larger pen and called for her baby to join her. I had barricaded the baby in and I did not think she was yet capable of jumping. I even provided mother Karin with a straw bale step to go back to her baby when she wanted. Yesterday, she insisted on removing the baby to the back of the pen where there are some every green trees, not enough for real shelter, but better than nothing she thought.

When I returned to check on the pair, the baby and mama were again in the back of the pen in the trees. Argh! So I picked baby up and carried her again to the shelter, tied the barricade in place this time and even though Karin jumped right back out over the fence, I was pretty sure Jeanette could not get out. But when I checked just before nightfall, out she was and back with mamma in the trees. I scattered some straw there yesterday so the little one would not have to lay on the snow.

So, I decided to create a bit of a shelter since the mother insisted on staying there. I had to haul the straw bales on the toboggan, two at a time and set them up as a windbreak with a piece of plywood against the north side. I scattered a half bale of fresh straw on the ground and stuffed in corner and cracks with straw as well to keep the drafts out. The only protection from above were the meager tree branches, but if baby snuggles down in the fresh clean straw, she should be fairly protected from the wind and snow. It was the best I could do since mama would not cooperate and stay in the shelter. I hope they are safe and sound tomorrow. I think the llama who lost her cria in the bitter cold was Joyce, because Lucy looks as though she is ready to deliver any day now. I will keep checking because the nights are still cold. Llamas usually have their crias between 9 and noon, though, so I do not have to worry about midnight arrivals with them.

Snuggle close to mama Karin, little Jeanette. By the way, the llamas are all named after my female cousins, so my family is always with me. Blessings.

Such a great story about the Llamas, their cria and that toad Stanley. That great animal instinct is definitely prevalent at the Fat Ewe farm. It seems to me I remember my uncle using that rope trick around the rear end of young heifers to move them and more recently using a noose twitch on the nose of a horse and the rope around the rear end and a little twist on the nose and they would follow you any where. It was that little bit of pain that distracted them from being stubborn.
It is amazing to see those dogs being so gentle with the new bourns but I think it is how well Fluffy has trained them and to some extent an instinct about the smell of a new animal. Reading about Sarah earlier was also insightful about the goats. You need the patients of Job to be a farmer and perhaps a good sense of humor.
Moab